Historians of Chorlton ...... John Lloyd

Written in 1990

Anyone interested in the history of Chorlton owes John Lloyd a lot. 

He wrote the first ever general history book on the township in 1972, and went on to publish a collection of photographs drawn from his and other people’s collections.*

Now he was not the first historian to do so. 

Thomas Ellwood wrote 25 articles between 1885-6 about the history of township and both John Lloyd and Ellwood relied on the earlier work of the Reverend John Booker who wrote a series of histories of the chapels around Manchester in the late 1850s.

 His History of the Chapels of Didsbury and Chorlton, Chetham Society, 1859 is a very detailed account not only of the parish church but also of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

But neither Booker’s account nor Ellwood’s articles are easily accessible and the great value of John Lloyd’s 1972 book was that it incorporated these earlier histories with a final chapter describing Chorlton during the late 19th and 20th centuries.

Cow Lane, date unknown

Sadly the 1972 edition is out of print but his picture book has been recently reissued.

In the concluding chapter he reflected on the pleasure and challenges in writing his book and looked back to the comments of Ellwood who in the May of 1886 had written “his task had been laborious but pleasurable” adding “the present author can echo the same sentiment ........ in another half century another chronicler will be able to take today’s story into the ever unfolding record of events”

*The Township of Chorlton cum Hardy, John M. Lloyd, E.J. Morten, 1972, and Looking Back at Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Willow Publishing, 1985

Picture; article written in 1990 and published in the Reporter and Cow Lane date unknown, from the collection of Rita Bishop

The age of the parking meter was short ....... we won’t see their like again

Now I am always surprised at what was once familiar street furniture can disappear like snow in the winter sun.

And looking at this 1968 picture of St Peter’s Square there will be a few who wonder what I am on about.

But I suspect that anyone born in the last two decades may wonder what that poll with the domed shaped device beside the car was used for because the age of the parking meter has come and  gone.

It was a short life.

The first in London was installed just fifty years ago which post dated their introduction in an American city by just 40 odd years.*

There are some  in Central London but 3,500 have gone leaving just 800.

And as ever, I can’t remember exactly when they vanished from the streets of Manchester and Salford.

At which point I know someone will come up with chapter and verse and also point me to the surviving ones somewhere.

As it is there were parking meters here by 1961 when the barrow boys of Back Piccadilly were concerned that their livelihood was under threat from the introduction of parking meters along the narrow street in November of 1961.*

Our image was taken in the October of 1968.

And for me the bonus of the picture is that it shows those lost buildings, one of which went I think sometime in the early '70s and the other very recently.

Location; Manchester







Picture; St Peter's Square, 1968, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Time runs out for the parking meter, Josie Barnard, The Telegraph, November 07, 2017, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/4029123/Time-runs-out-for-the-parking-meter.html

**Back Piccadilly may lose barrow Boys, Manchester Guardian, November 20, 1961

Home thoughts from abroad nu 5 ................ wandering down to Avery Hill on a Sunday

An occasional series on what I miss about the place where I grew up.*

Now when you are 17 and out on that second date and still unsure of what comes next Avery Hill was always a good bet.

The Saturday night had been the pictures and without wanting to push it out too far and mindful that at 17 you didn’t have a lot of cash this was the place to come, check out whether the night before had been a good idea and whether either of you wanted it to go any further.

I remember plenty of such Sunday afternoons and two in particular with girl friends who lived in the lodge at Crown Woods which I fully admit was not pushing the boat out.

Later a full seven years after I first discovered the place I went back with Kay.

We had met in Manchester in 1971, started going out and in the following year spent part of the long summer at 294 Well Hall and later in the North East.

And when we weren’t exploring the centre of London or down at the Park in Greenwich, Avery Hill was somewhere to walk to on a Sunday.

It began with the Pleasaunce and then that long haul through the High Street and down the other side always with a curious look across at Crown Woods.

Not I suppose the most momentous memory but one that stays with me even now.

Location, Eltham London

Pictures; Avery Hill, 2013, from the collection of Jean Gammons

*Home thoughts from abroad, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Home%20thoughts%20from%20abroad

Tony Walker

This week I was thinking of my old friend Tony Walker.

He had long been recording the history of Chorlton and had a wonderful collection of photographs books and vivid memories of the place he had grown up in.

Tony could turn his hand to almost anything. A keen photographer, and model aeroplane maker, he had taken to computers and merged his love of Chorlton’s history and photography creating a wonderful web site containing a fine collection of stories and information about the area. I still return to his collection of photographs, including a series of aerial pictures which combined his love of model making, photography and history.

What I like about this picture is the way it shows Higginbotham's farm house and what would have been the barn and farm yard, and parish church yard in the process of being landscaped.

To which Paul Maylor has added, "The photo shows an aerial view which also includes the buildings of Chorlton Evangelical Church, including the church lounge, which was built around 1982, so I would put the date as no earlier than 1982".

Picture; looking down on the parish church yard, circa 1980, from the collection of Tony Walker, circa 1980s

The picture I wish I had taken …………….under the Mancunian Way in 1967

This is one of those pictures I wish I had taken.

We are at the official opening of the Mancunian Way on May 5th, 1967, which was a Friday, and I suspect that accounts for the number of children in the crowd.

Doing the ceremonial bit, was the Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who was accompanied by the Lord Mayor, Mrs. Nellie Beer, O.B.E., J.P., and because they are on the plaque, Councillor S.C. Rimmer, Chair of the Highways Committee, his deputy, Councillor Ken Franklin, the Town Clerk and representatives from City Engineers and Surveyors, along with those from the construction firms.

But what captures your attention, is the crowd.

It may have been small compared to some events, but it is a busy picture, with lots going on, from the serious looking faces of some of the adults, to the mix of emotions from the young people, including the girl distracted by something. and the lad beside her clearly “off script”.

And yes, that does look like the actor Jack Howarth who played Albert Tatlock in Coronation Street, for almost a quarter of a century.

What is also interesting is that this does have an element of the “staged crowd”, from the children let out of school, to the group of young men and women, who may be Council staff, or equally likely were Labour Party members drafted in to support the Labour Prime Minister

And then there are the rest who seem a cross section of local residents.

But however, contrived the scene might have been, there is no doubting that the photographer caught the moment, perfectly.

Location; Under the Mancunian Way

Picture; Capturing the moment, 1967, Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection, https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR35NR9v6lzJfkiSsHgHdQyL2CCuQUHuCuVr8xnd403q534MNgY5g1nAZfY

On Eltham High Street in the summer of 1977

Now there is a very obvious appeal about old photographs of Eltham.

Eltham High Street in 1977

The people stare back at you and it is easy to wonder about their lives, their hopes and of course what happened to them.

In the same way we are drawn to the buildings, comparing their appearance then with now or pondering on how the planners could have allowed such a magnificent house to be demolished to make way for an ugly block of flats or an equally drab parade of modern shops.

And the irony is that those 1950s/70s new build rarely have lasted the course.

The grey concrete has stained, the wood panelling has begun to rot as have the window frames and the modern signage is totally out of character.

So it is more pleasant to retreat into the images of a century ago.  All of which is fine but often ignores the more recent photographs, from say the 1970s or 1980s.  These can be just as revealing about how things have changed, with that added bonus that they show an Eltham which is almost as it is now but not quite.

In that sense they seem even more dated.  The fashions look outlandish and the cars comical.  But for the historian these images are just as important.

So in 1977 on this stretch of the High Street the King’s Arms was still serving pints, Warrens and the Golden Orient Tandoori Restaurant were yet to give way to Pat’s Textiles and Spice Island, and the Grove Market was a busy and vibrant place.

So and not for the last time I shall fall back on that old Monty Python quote, "no one expects the Spanish Inquistion" and make an appeal for more of those pictures from the recent past.

Picture; courtesy of Jean Gammons, 1977

Just before midnight on Princess Street …………1963

This is one of those pictures I wish I had taken.

We are on Princess Street approaching Whitworth Street, and given that it’s almost midnight the streets are empty.

I like the effect of the streetlamps, which along with the absence of people and vehicles makes for a very atmospheric scene.

Of course, the buildings running down from 113 to Whitworth Street have long gone, although they survived until relatively recently, after which the site was an empty plot for ages.

But when I first came across the picture last year, the plot was being developed with speed, with the boards promising “Luxury City Centre Living”, with the name Manchester Square.

Location; Princess Street




Pictures; Princess Street, 1963,  "Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection", 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR35NR9v6lzJfkiSsHgHdQyL2CCuQUHuCuVr8xnd403q534MNgY5g1nAZfY